The crouching legs of what will be the United Kingdom's largest bronze statue were unveiled on Monday ahead of its installation outside the Theatre Royal Plymouth in southwest England next year.

When complete, the 500,000 pounds ($640,000) statue of a female actor poised to leap into action during a performance of William Shakespeare's Othello will be seven metres (23ft) high, almost nine metres wide and weigh nine-and-a-half tonnes.

Titled "Messenger", it has been designed by local sculptor Joseph Hillier as part of a wider 7.5 million pound regeneration project in the port city that was heavily bombed during World War Two.

The legs were unveiled at a foundry in the Welsh village of Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant where the rest of the statue will be cast before its transfer south to Plymouth.

More than 200 bronze panels are being welded together to create the giant figure which will be the UK's largest bronze by volume.

It has been created using 3D scans taken from pictures of the actor who inspired Hillier in 2014.

"The sculpture celebrates the potential of creativity as a dynamic catalyst for change," Hillier said.